1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems and computer networks. More specifically, a system and method for dynamically marketing products and/or services to an end user of a device such as an end user computer over a network such as the Internet based on a configuration profile of the client device stored on the client device are disclosed.
2. Description of Related Art
Many companies utilize advertising in varying degrees to attract new customers, to retain existing customers, to increase sales, and/or to build customer and brand loyalty. With the proliferation of the Internet and the explosive growth of various forms of commerce that utilize the Internet in some way, it has become more and more important for companies to expand beyond the traditional advertising media that include television, radio, newspaper, magazine, mailing, and various other print media and to utilize the Internet for advertising.
Although broadcast print, television, radio, and online banner advertisements retain some effectiveness in retaining current customers and in gaining new customers through exposure to a large number of potential customers, the Internet by its nature offers many new and creative ways of cost-effectively targeting advertisement to more appropriate and receptive current and potential customers previously not readily available through the traditional advertising media.
Accordingly, the current marketing trend is toward the provision of targeted advertising information based upon the customers' behaviors and preferences. Online profiling coupled with advances in database technology and knowledge base techniques enables increasingly targeted communications with consumers based both upon the stated preferences of those consumers and their prior purchasing behavior.
Certain methods exist today for marketing products to consumers based upon the stated preferences of the consumer. For example, a software manufacturer may elect to collect preferences of consumers and potential consumers through a product survey. Such a survey can be conducted through mail, by phone interview, and/or through a website.
In the case of a survey posted on a website, the customer accesses and completes the survey available on the website. Typically, the customer receives some incentives for completing the survey. Results of the surveys may be collected, stored, aggregated, and analyzed for the purpose of determining the behavior of the consumers. Based on the survey information, the surveyor (or a partner of the surveyor) may choose to send a print advertisement, email communication, and/or other marketing communication to the consumers based upon the customers' responses to the survey. The marketing communication may be semi-customized by grouping of the survey responses into demographic subgroups or may be individually customized by utilizing a knowledge-based determination of the consumer's preferences from each consumer's responses to the survey.
As another example, a consumer may purchase a product or service for which the manufacturer or service provider includes a registration information packet. This registration information packet may be in the form of a registration card requesting the customer to provide such information as name, address, and phone number, and requesting the customer to answer a number of questions designed to provide insight into the consumer's purchasing behavior, profession, income, and so on. The manufacturer may additionally or alternatively include an electronic version of the registration packet or may provide access to the registration packet via the Internet by which the information can be collected. When the customer provides the registration information to the manufacturer, the manufacturer then has a record of the manufacturer's product purchased by the customer in addition to any of the supplementary information requested and/or supplied by the consumer. Based upon the knowledge of what product the consumer purchased, when the consumer purchased the item, and any combination of the supplementary information, the manufacturer can choose to target marketing communications to the particular consumer.
However, such mechanisms for collecting, storing, and analyzing consumer preferences often result in a time-consuming and imprecise process of generating notifications of new and related products. In addition, such mechanisms for collecting consumer-stated preferences and past purchasing behavior rely upon many factors such as the consumer responding at all to marketing surveys and/or registration information requests, the consumer accurately answering questions about previously purchased products and answering other system configuration-based questions, as well as the proper interpretation of the consumer's stated preferences or observed behavior into relevant marketing tactics. Delivery of hard-copy product notifications such as brochures often requires the grouping of consumers into subgroups in order to minimize the number of different targeted product advertisements that must be generated. If a preferred communication is email, the manufacturer and/or distributor must customize the email communication. It would thus be desirable for advertisement communications regarding any new or related product to be based on firm, timely knowledge of a consumer's preferences and behavior and be delivered in an effective, timely, and cost-efficient manner.
A method for scanning the user's computer for the presence of certain software programs for the purpose of providing updates to those software programs is disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/660,488, entitled “Automatic Updating of Diverse Software Products on Multiple Client Computer Systems” and filed on Jun. 7, 1996, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. A similar method is currently in use at the McAfee Web site, the contents of which are incorporated by reference as of the filing date of the present patent application.
FIG. 1 illustrates a software update system 30 for updating software products on an end user computer system 40 similar to the method disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/660,488. The software update system 30 generally comprises one or more product and/or service vendor servers or computer systems 32 in communication with an update service provider server or computer system 36 containing an update information database 38 via a network such as the Internet 34. An end user computer 40 containing an update application 42 is also in communication with the service provider computer system 36 via the Internet 34.
The update information database 38 of the update service provider computer system 36 contains various information, such as update name, version, location, installation instructions and the like, about products for which updates are available. The update application 42 of the end user computer system 40 periodically communicates with the service provider computer system 36 via the Internet 34 to check products specified in the update information database 108 against the contents of the end user computer system 40. If a product specified in the product information database 38 is identified on the end user computer system 40, the end user computer system 40 is placed in communication with a corresponding vendor computer system 32 to optionally download or install the software update.
However, such a system for updating software products on: an end user computer system does not allow the dynamic marketing of software, hardware, and/or other related products and services to the user based on the current configurations of the end user's computer system and/or the preferences of the end user. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system and method for dynamically marketing products or services based upon current configurations of the user's computer system.